{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Radio Chatskill","title":"Science Stories with Joe Johnson ","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":723,"description":"From plastic-eating caterpillars to mysterious lights above thunderstorms and dazzling summer meteor showers, Joe Johnson, Radio Catskill’s resident science guy, unpacked some of nature’s strangest and most fascinating phenomena this week.Plastic-Eating Waxworms: Nature’s Unlikely Solution to Pollution?Plastic pollution is choking oceans and landfills worldwide—but help might come from an unlikely source: the waxworm.At last week’s Society for Experimental Biology conference, researchers revealed that the larvae of the wax moth—commonly sold as bait for ice fishing—can digest polyethylene, one of the world’s most common plastics.Johnson explained the discovery began in 2017 when a Spanish biologist and beekeeper placed waxworms in a plastic bag and returned an hour later to find it full of holes. “The worms, which naturally consume beeswax inside beehives, had begun eating the plastic,” Johnson said. The reason? Both beeswax and plastic are polymers, meaning they’re made up of long chains of repeating molecules.Evolution has equipped waxworms with specialized enzymes and metabolic pathways that allow them to break down beeswax. Researchers have now found those same enzymes—present in the worms’ saliva and digestive tract—can break polyethylene down into lipids: fats and oils that the worms store as body fat.But there’s a catch. “A pure diet of plastic kills the worms in just a few days,” Johnson noted. Scientists are now exploring ways to supplement the worms’ diet to help them safely consume plastics. If successful, waxworms could potentially be raised on a plastic-containing diet to help reduce landfill waste. After feeding on plastic, the worms themselves could serve as food for aquaculture or livestock.“Alternatively, scientists might be able to mimic the worms’ chemical processes and develop industrial-scale solutions for breaking down plastic waste,” Johnson said.Red Sprites: Rarely Photographed Weather Phenomenon Shifting from earth to sky, Johnson also...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/q7XXsnSXT_u4mZLCn3chUorwDmUD_kWiB272D6emB18/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80N2Uy/OGY5MWUwZThkYTEw/NDVkZGM2ZGZkZDIw/ZjliOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}